Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2661 )

• Is Our Microbiome Manipulating Us to Look out for Itself?

  Links between our gut and our brain, especially via the vagus nerve, can regulate stress disorders such as depression and anxiety. Read more

  Posted on 20 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Brain and Behavioral Correlates of Compassion Training.

  Davidson and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin have ...investigated whether short-term compassion training would enhance altruistic behavior toward a... Read more

  Posted on 19 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Spooky and Awesome Technology

  

  Recent issues of Science Magazine have amazing reports of technology advances: a brain-like spiking-neuron integrated circuit on a 5. Read more

  Posted on 18 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• More on Brain Games and Training - and Reversing Cognitive Decline in Aging.

  Yesterday I got into playing again with a subscription to the online brain training games developed by Michael Merzenich and his colleagues that I purchased... Read more

  Posted on 15 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Chronic Pain Saps Our Motivations and Desires - the Mechanism.

  

  Fields gives a nice summary of work by Schwartz et al., who find a detailed synaptic mechanism for how chronic pain saps our motivations and desires. I pass on... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Habenula (?) Does a Tally of Our Negative Outcomes.

  

  Impress your friends that you know the name of a brain region that they haven't heard of before! Lawson et al., in yet another publication that includes... Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• In Learning, Too Much of a Good Thing Can Be Bad.

  Many contemporary elementary school classrooms have walls that are covered with varied and interesting displays that are not relevant to ongoing instruction... Read more

  Posted on 12 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Varieties of Introspection.

  I disagree with David Brooks’ opinions much of the time, but I’m impressed with what a polymath he is. His Op-Ed piece on healthy versus unhealthy... Read more

  Posted on 11 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• An Opinion Due to Social Conformity Lasts Only a Few Days.

  Huang et al. do a study on 22 South China Normal University students in which they evaluated the attractiveness of a series of neutral faces with and without... Read more

  Posted on 08 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Motivation Not Improved by Multiple Motives.

  Wrzesniewski et al. do an interesting study of 11,320 West Point cadets over a period of ten years. Although people often assume that multiple motives for... Read more

  Posted on 07 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Much Do Our Genes Influence Our Political Beliefs?

  One of MindBlog’s subject threads has been noting articles that examine the correlation between our genetic constitution and our political behaviors. Read more

  Posted on 06 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Anger as the Most Easily Spread Emotion.

  Teddy Wayne does an essay on how anger is the emotion that spreads the most easily over social media. Some clips: A 2013 study, from Beihang University in... Read more

  Posted on 05 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Brain Noise? Insomnia? Try A.S.M.R.

  Fairyington does an interesting piece on a phenomenon called autonomous sensory meridian response (A.S.M.R.), which is felt as a mild calming tingling... Read more

  Posted on 04 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Faith and Ideology Trump Reason...

  Sigh...sorry to spread such pessimistic material, but I pass on two items on the persistence of faith or ideology over reason. Read more

  Posted on 01 August 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Brain Activity That Reflects Positive and Negative Emotion.

  

  Knutson et al. at Stanford note a correlation between self reported positive and negative arousal and fMRI measurement of brain activity in the nucleus accumben... Read more

  Posted on 31 July 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Brain Correlates of Behaviors in Market Bubbles.

  Interesting...from Smith et al. a visualization of the part of our brains that seem to be saying "go for it" during a market bubble (and making less money) and... Read more

  Posted on 30 July 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• A Intriguing Take on Consciousness as a Perceptual Construct.

  

  A recent review by Aaron Schurger in Science Magazine pointed me to Michael Graziano's 2013 book "Consciousness and the Social Brain", which I immediately... Read more

  Posted on 29 July 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Video Game Puzzle That Improves Executive Function.

  Maybe you don't have to pay brainhq.com or luminosity.com a monthly fee for brain exercises to improve your brain's executive functions. An iOS or Android App... Read more

  Posted on 28 July 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Life Purpose, Longevity, and Alzheimers Disease.

  From Hill and Turiano: Having a purpose in life has been cited consistently as an indicator of healthy aging for several reasons, including its potential for... Read more

  Posted on 25 July 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?

  The standard answer, which I've used to end several of my lectures, is "practice, practice, practice." Macnamara et al. suggest there is a bit more to it than... Read more

  Posted on 24 July 2014 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE